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Juggling numbers on renewables

Renewables at 23.7% sounds impressive, eh? But craftily, they include hydro, which accounts for two thirds of this figure. Ten years ago hydro was already supplying 16% of the world’s electricity, just the same as it is now.

We all know that adding much more hydro is not possible, and generally speaking is not sensible from either environmental or agricultural reasons.

And that leaves wind and solar, which produce less than 5%.

But when we look at total energy consumption, and not just electricity, the contribution from wind/solar becomes vanishingly small:

4) “The fact that we had 147GW of capacity, mainly of wind and solar is a clear indication that these technologies are cost competitive (with fossil fuels)”

This is simply self serving nonsense.

The only reason renewable capacity is increasing in developed countries is because they are heavily subsidised and/or fossil fuels are being regulated out of existence.

In the UK, for instance, the latest CfD auction has awarded 15-year, index linked prices to offshore wind farms of £126/MWh, which is three times the market price. Solar farms subsidies are not much less, getting guaranteed prices of £83/MWh.